Gingerbread cookies are just one of the things students in the Steamboat Arts & Crafts Gym's after school program have been working on this holiday season. The gym will offer a children's holiday workshop from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday.

Mariam Worster works on a glass holiday ornament as part of the Steamboat Arts & Crafts Gym's after-school program.

Photo by John F. Russell

5-year-old Sophia Gowdy works on her ornament at the Steamboat Arts & Crafts Gym.

Photo by John F. Russell

Mariam Worster works on her glass holiday ornament as part of the Steamboat Arts & Crafts Gym's after school program.

Making a glass holiday ornament takes patience. And sometimes, that can be a challenge.

"I'm not a patient person," said third-grader Zoe Sullivan, who was busy Tuesday afternoon shaking a glass ball to coat it with paint. The glass ornament was one of dozens of holiday gifts and decorations Zoe has made since late November as part of the Steamboat Arts & Crafts Gym after-school program.

Once the inside of the glass ball was covered in white paint, Zoe got to work applying green and red stripes on the outside - although she eventually scrapped the idea and decided to draw a picture of a carrot. Arts & Crafts Gym owner Diane Davis led a group of 10 students through the craft on an afternoon that started with decorated gingerbread men and ended with decorated gingerbread houses.

"Each time they come, we try to get them to do some kind of holiday thing," Davis said. In the past month, the after-school group has made paintbrush reindeer, pine cone wreaths, holiday greeting cards and holiday placemats.

Many of those crafts will be available at a children's gift-making workshop from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday. Davis said parents are welcome to drop off their children at the Arts & Crafts Gym to make four or five holiday-themed projects. The workshop costs $30.

Davis also will host a gingerbread house construction clinic from 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday. Each house costs $30 and can be made by one person or a large group. The workshops are the last in a series that started in November. The art space's final fall wreath-making class is from 1 to 3 p.m. today.

Davis said the gym offers a range of crafts, from the ornaments her after-school students made Tuesday to more advanced projects for older artists. The goal behind the children's workshops and after-school program is to get participants to use their creative side in crafting gifts, Davis said.

"We try to get them to use their creative brain and get them to put their designs on paper before they just start painting," she said. "The whole idea is to spread it out and enjoy the process."